This was such a sweet and swoony romance. Friends to lovers is a favorite trope of mine, so I was absolutely loving the relationship between Liv & Lucas.

The setting in South Africa was just perfection. I haven’t read a ton of books set there, but I want to devour all of them now.

Wasn’t my favorite book, but I did enjoy it.

A heartfelt story about a group of college friends who now navigate the real world as adults.
At times the narrative was a bit slow and uninteresting but then it kicked back up again.
Liv’s character was quite neurotic. I liked Deiss the best.

Did you have a close group of friends in college? Do you still do things with them? Lacie Waldon has fun with a long-time group of friends in her new book, From the Jump.

"Olivia has always been a yes girl. She wants to wear the right clothes and project the right image and be her best self. She finally says no to a graphic design project (bone broth is her line in the sand) and flies out to catch up with her friends on a safari trip to South Africa.She didn't expect the complications to friendships and when she returns to LA she must decide on what she really wants out of her career and her friendship with Deiss"

This was a book where the characters grow on you and you don't want to see them go. Waldon puts poor Olivia through so much but her friends are always there for her. Deiss owns a record store and has a concert space in the basement. (one of my favorite jobs ever) Deiss also has a secret that's pretty funn-tastic. Olivias reactions to being close to Deiss are pretty funny, especially since we all know what it's like to be around someone that has a powerful effect on us.

And there is a Brad character - described as the "gorgeous drummer in the cool band" So thanks to Waldon for making him a good guy.

This is a fun, entertaining book. I hope we get to see these characters again. Take this one to the beach or the mountains or wherever you go for fun. Great new book from Waldon.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

From the Jump by Lacie Waldon (out 7/19)

What a sweet, light-hearted rom com! This was a perfect summer read ☀️

In addition to the “friends to lovers” relationship between Liv and Deiss, I absolutely resonated with and appreciated the message of “just be yourself” and “it’s okay to mess up and not be perfect”. Such important messages that we all need to hear!

I loved the various settings in the book—South Africa and a record shop?! So unique!

Huge thanks to @netgalley and @putnambooks for the #gifted e-copy! Be sure to add this one to your summer TBR 😍

4.5 stars, rounded up.
I loved this book! The friends-to-lovers and forced proximity tropes were swoony and fun. I enjoyed the long-time group of friends, who are really more of a found family, and the mental escape to South Africa. Although I do think it kind of sucks that they all went on a yearly trip and had basically been fine not having Liv go along since she started her career? Kind of odd, right?

MC Liv starts off being called the Ice Queen, but readers will see her tough exterior melt throughout the book as she finds herself. Seeing her learn to finally set boundaries and say no, and figure out what she wants out of life, instead of what self-help books think she "should do" was fantastic and made me cheer for her!

Love interest/ MC Lucas Deiss sounds dreamy AF, but he was hard to figure out. While Liv may have been the Ice Queen, Deiss was just....a blank. Like, somehow managed to keep all details of his past under lock and key, even with his supposed best friends. So, it was wonderful seeing him slowly open up to Liv.

This book also scores major points for funny cat names!
Anyways, this book wasn't perfect, but I loved the cover, and I couldn't put it down. It would be a great beach read!

Thank you so much to Putnam, Lacie Waldon, and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved The Layover last year, Waldon's debut, and I was really thrilled to read her next book. I related to the main character, Liv, in many ways and I thought Diess was a really swoony love interest. I didn't love their friend group though. I thought Simone was really selfish and shallow always making the friends be in pictures for her social media and I often confused her with Phoebe.
I also wish more of the book had taken place while everyone was on vacation. Vacations have a magic about them and I think a lot of the story could have been worked through while they were loving their vacation life.

That being said, I honestly really liked the book until the last 15% or so. I thought the main conflict between Diess and Liv was believable but didn't love the miscommunication trope between them and Liv and her friends. Plus the wedding on the boat at the end came out of left field.

All in all, I thought it was entertaining and a great beach or pool read but a couple things at the end disappointed me. I'm giving it 3.5 stars!

Lacie Waldon is back with her sophomore novel about friendship, love, and chilling da fuq out and living your life without a stick up the butt. I’m pretty sure “Stick Out the Butt” was a close second for the title of this book.

Liv is a buttoned up perfectionist who lives her life by the book. She grew up with a poor, single mom with lots of men coming and going and won’t let history repeat itself. Liv is still very close with her 4 other college friends who are all beautiful and successful and she feels like an imposter. After getting put on unpaid leave for telling her boss “no” like one time she joins her friends on vacation and thus starts the passage of the stick out the bum. Liv’s perfect persona slowly unravels as her life spins out of control and she grows closer to the hottest friend, Deiss. Bc only hot guys with tight abs go by their last name. It’s a rule.

I loved the slow burn between Liv and Deiss and per usual could have used more sex, heat, description of what Deiss’s member looks like. Ya know basic needs of a pervy book reviewer. While From the Jump def has romance, it’s more about a woman shedding the heavy weight of who she thinks she should be and just living her life as who she is. It’s about love and forgiveness and acceptance between friends. My only real gripe is that it was almost too short- things wrapped up too easily and I needed more of everything (groveling, hashing shit out, forgiving, make up sexing). I was so invested in this friend group it could have been 100 pages longer and I’d be cool with it!

Def recommend for a low steam, stick shedding, friendship heavy summer read.

Smut- 1.99 stars
Romance- 4.07 stars
Story- 4.32 stars
Having a hot friend who is waiting for you to stop being an uptight ice queen so he can bone you- 83.41 stars

From the Jump by Lacie Waldon included one of my all time favorite tropes (Friends to Lovers) and did it so well!

This book is about Liv Bakersfield who has always done what she "should" do. She works on being nice and worrying about what other people think of her to the exclusion of what she wants and needs. One day she has had it and finally says "no" to an assignment at work buying her some time off. She uses that time to join her friends on a trip to South Africa where she is picked up from the airport and ends up staying with Lucas Deiss (called Deiss throughout). Now that Liv finally starts to let herself think about what she wants and not what others want from her, she starts to see that what she wants is to be more than friends with Deiss. But she is not wanting to risk breaking up her close knit group of friends. Will she risk it?

I love books about found family and the friends group in this one was excellent. I really loved Mac and Deiss, the two male members. They were fun and flirty and people you would just want to hang out with. The women were equally fun! I loved seeing Liv's evolution over the course of this book. I was appreciative that Lacie didn't make her go effortlessly from always saying "yes" to always saying "no." She did a great job of showing the struggle that Liv had breaking that cycle including little things like going out in public without makeup, etc.

This is a great read with some wonderful characters! I would definitely recommend picking this one up when it is out!

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have gotten to know author, Lacie Waldon on bookstagram so I was really excited to get to read From the Jump, her sophomore novel, and let me say, this book did not disappoint. It was so fun and perfectly blends friendship, romance, and family.

I liked that this book shows us that sometimes we don’t need to live a perfect life to have it all. When Liv decides to take a leap and join her friends on a safari, she discovers who she truly is and finds what she’s been looking for all along. I think that’s a good message and something we should all remember at times.

I loved the friend group and the banter between them in this book. Deiss was my favorite and is totally my new book boyfriend! I really loved his character, and the scenes in his record shop. I really liked how supportive of Liv he was, and the faith he had in things working out.

From the Jump is the perfect beach read and has everything I’m looking for in a romance! Thank you Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. And a special thank you to Lacie for including the SQAFers in your acknowledgements.

This was a great read about college friendships and as they continue their friendship years later. Told from Liv's perspective who always felt she had to be perfect and seeking stability with a good job and image of a perfect life.
I enjoyed the tension created between Liv and Deiss on the safari and beyond. I really enjoyed all the fun supporting characters, especially Deiss employees.

This one was a breath of fresh air after reading a few suspenseful thrillers. Nice and fluffy with a good, solid plot and well written storyline. I loved the author’s first book and this one I felt was just as good!

Lacie Waldon is back with a new novel after last year's vacation read The Layover. Graphic designer Liv Bakersfield is overworked and used to missing out, but everything changes when she quits her job and jets off to meet her friends in South Africa. The close proximity complicates her relationship with her friend Lucas Deiss. What will happen when they return back home?
This friends-to-lovers rom-com had plenty of unexpected turns to keep me guessing and entertained (especially Lucas's secret past!). I fell for all of the friends and coworkers and found myself rooting for Lacie as she overcame adversity and found herself.

From the Jump is a rom com novel about a bunch of fast friends from college who continue into their adult years meeting up on occasion and taking a few big vacations together. Liv is the friend who comes from a poor background whose whole life has been trying to please people and make herself better. Once she decides to throw caution to the wind and take a chance. When the attraction with one of her long time friends becomes stronger will she take the chance and risk ruining their perfect friend group, will they talk about the things that they’ve all been keeping inside? Definitely a fun book for a day on the beach!

I wanted to love this book, but right from the start, I found myself struggling to connect to the story and to the characters. While this one wasn't for me, I don't doubt someone else will love this one! Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

From the Jump
Lacie Waldon
4⭐️

Liv, a chronic yes-woman finally admits to what—and who— she really wants.

I loved Waldon’s debut novel, the Layover and was so excited to be approved for her follow up.

From the Jump was an entertaining, light-hearted, quick summer read. I enjoyed the story, the friendships, and the interesting mix of characters (some more likable than others). I adored Liv. She was so relatable and I loved watching her grow and finally say NO. Although this story is more focused on friendships than romance, the banter and chemistry between Liv and Diess was cute, and fun to read. I loved the message about not needing to be perfect. Overall I enjoyed this one, and will definitely check out more by Waldon.

What I enjoyed;
🌴 Slow-burn romance
🌴 Friends to lovers
🌴 Cat Steven’s & Fluff Daddy
🌴 Escape read

If you’re in the mood to escape into a fun friends to lovers romance, check out FTJ.

From the Jump is available July 19, 2022!

Thank you so much Putnam Books, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

This was so close to four stars -- I honestly was enjoying this so much until the end. The ending felt both sloppy and tidy at the same time. The conflict was wrapped up too close to the end and too neatly but also just didn't jive with the rest of the book and the slow burn that I enjoyed so much. I still enjoyed over 80% of this book immensely and am excited for more from this author! Add this to your summer TBR!

From the Jump comes out next week on July 19, 2022 and you can purchase HERE. You can read my review of this author's debut HERE.

"Sometimes I think you and I are opposite sides of the same coin."

"I like that," he says. "It means you're stuck with me."

From the Jump is a book that I wanted to love. It fell flat for me in several places (most places, actually, except for Lucas) BUT although it happened to be a miss for me, I definitely think it will be a hit for a lot of other readers. I just didn't connect.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an easy breezy summer read. There were lots of things I liked about it:
1) Liv Bakersfield is buttoned up and ripe for a shake up
2) Lucas Diess is a dreamy enigma
3) The variety of personalities in the circle of friends
4) A trip to South Africa -- safari!
5) Also set in a record store -- retro and hip
6) Cats named Cat Stevens and Fluff Daddy
7) A sweet HEA
Included are discussion questions, so get some reading buddies and jump right in. Readers who loved The Layover will want to read this one as well. If you haven't a Lacie Waldon book yet, you are missing out.

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded up. Friends to lovers isn't my favorite trope because I don't think there is usually enough tension but in this case - I am wrong! Lacie Waldron does such a good job of creating tension and banter and this was such a fun read, I read it in one afternoon!

This is the story of 5 college friends, who 11 years later, are still close friends. They get together every third Thursday of the month and take a yearly trip somewhere together. Well all except for Liv, who always passes on the trip for financial and job reasons. When her friends leave for a trip to Africa, Liv decides to be impulsive for once in her life and joins them. What unfolds is a really sweet, friends to lovers, close proximity trope with an added bonus of a found family trope. I loved the circle of friends and even though they weren't always great, they were able to work things out. I really loved the male main character Deiss and think he was the perfect compliment to Liv. It was fairly predictable and I'm not usually a fan of the I can't ruin our friendship line but despite those couple of things, this was such a fun, enjoyable read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

After years of living a planned life, Liv makes a leap out of her self imposed structure. She goes on vacation with her college friends Deiss, Mac, Phoebe, and Simone. What happens when college friends partner off? What happens when making a leap turns out horribly? Weighty and realistic topics that are treated humorously will keep you reading. Great story with well developed characters. Except Simone - I didn't like her all that much.